Pretty impossible I'd stay. PoW Liberation reports are listed by name and nothing else. Until someone compiles a list of 100,000 + names and adds units, date and or location of capture it's pretty much a no go as far as I'm aware. Jacksun has a fair amount of PoW data ask him if he knows of a website etc that has done the above already.
I'm trying to find out the names of the 2nd RIF soldiers that got captured in Halle. I searched the battalions war dairy and the missing men file but could not find that much. So my last hope are the Liberation reports of the soldier that got captured. Unfortunately the only names that I found are PSM McDaid and L/Cpl Graham. Would it be possible to find out the other names by looking at the dates that the soldiers where captured or is this an impossible task? Regards Koen There is no index for the information you are seeking. I'd say it's possible to find some more names, but that's a lot of work for what might bring very little return indeed. Even if you managed to locate all the questionnaires in archives for the bn, by sifting through the entire series from A - Z, the amount of information in Liberation reports varies considerably. You may be able to find some which give a place name and date for capture; quite a few men omitted one detail or the other, or simply named the country, not the actual location. I find them very both interesting and useful as a source, but I still keep in mind that these men were understandably keen to navigate the red tape and return home after years in camps... so, a lot of blanks left.
POW details of the 2 men mentioned above - I will try and check out others captured at about the same time by reference to their POW numbers. Name: J McDaid Rank: Provost Marshal Serjeant Army Number: 6976674 Regiment: Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers POW Number: 15331 Camp Type: Stalag Camp Number: III-A Camp Location: Luckenwalde, Brandenburg Record Office: Infantry Record Office, Perth Record Office Number: 16 Name: T G Graham Rank: Lance Corporal Army Number: 6974829 Regiment: Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers POW Number: 14005 Camp Type: Stalag Camp Number: III-A Camp Location: Luckenwalde, Brandenburg Record Office: Infantry Record Office, Perth Record Office Number: 16 TD edited to add Searching for Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers POW's in camp III-A there are 101 of them, I do not know how we could narrow down that number to the ones captured as unfortunately the Ancestry records do not have a date of capture. Plus I guess the fact that not all of those captured at one time would have been sent to the same camp.
Thanks James. This has been a great help to my research. I now have 348 names of officers and soldiers that served with the Inniskilling during the campaign in Belgium and France. Most of them where killed or taken POW. Can somebody tell me what these abbreviations mean: 21/C B Coy and MTO Capt Meade.
Koen According to Ancestry POW database searching purely for the Regiment, there are 251 recorded as POW's, as mentioned earlier 101 of that 251 were located in camp III-A. TD
I'm not sure that all these men were taken prisoner in Belgium or France. In the Journal Sprig of Shillelagh from spring 1941 they list 146 men. 8 officers of the Skins were also taken prisoner. Is it possible that some of these men were taken POW in Managascar, Sicily or Italy?
The 1st Battalion spent the entire war in British India and Burma.The 5th and 70th Battalion didn't leave the UK. And the 6th fought in Tunisia, Sicily and Italy until they were disbanded in June 1944 and were absorbed in the 2nd Battalion or other units of the Irish Brigade. So it is possible that there are men of the 6th Bn in the list.
These numbers are from an Ancestry search for the Regiment (based on WO 392) and shows all those in the Regiment (or as stated by them) who where noted as POW's in N W Europe i.e Germany. It is possible some of those were transported from Italy - if the Regiment was there, and obviously would not include any from Italy that escaped. The database I have looked at does not state the date of capture unfortunately. TD Edited to add: Their details do not include which Battalion, just the Regiment
I know that is going to be impossible to find out on which specific date a specific soldier was captured. But it has to be more or less possible to find out the number of men that were captured during the fighting in Belgium and France.
Well here is one of them: H White in the UK, British Prisoners of War, 1939-1945 Name: H White Rank: Fusilier Army Number: 6979985 Regiment: Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers POW Number: 17186 Camp Type: Stalag Camp Number: 344 Camp Location: Lambinowice, Poland Record Office: Infantry Record Office, Perth Record Office Number: 16 From: http://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/ww2/view.php?uid=205263 "Hugh was reported as missing the day before his brother Samuel was killed in action. He was taken Prisoner of War in 1940 at Dunkirk and spent 5 years as a prisoner in one of the harshest POW camps, Stalag 344 at Lambinowice, Poland." This also shows that not all captured in 1940 were in the same camp TD
Hi Koen, This is great stuff. Try the Inniskillings Museum in Enniskillen - http://www.inniskillingsmuseum.com/ and they may be able to help with more information. Andy
LondonNik Through searching Ancestry (aka WO 392) just for a POW number can throw up several POW's in different camps. I have yet to fathom the system employed by the Germans in numbering POW's, except to say that in general the lower the number the earlier they were 'probably' captured. I also would guess that towards the end of the war (l944 - 1945) their numbering system went into meltdown :indexCAXI2NHN: TD
Thanks Nick for the tip. I have a list of 135 POW that was printed in the Journal of the RIF. I'm also certain that 8 officers were captured so that makes an total of 143 men and officers. I'm also going to contact the Inniskillings Museum maybe they can help me with my search. According to the 2nd RIF's war dairy on the 21st April they were with 716 OR and 26 officers and when they arrived in Dunkirk only 11 officers and 204 OR were still with the Battalion. 68 men lost their lives during the retreat to Dunkirk
Koen Extra to your attachment above: C Devine - POW number is 47929 A McMullan - POW number is 12396 I have checked all the others with no POW number and none show up even if I just search for their Army number TD
Hi Koen, Do you have 6980224 Fusilier John Ardis on your Nominal Roll? He was only in France for 13 days. 19th May to the 31st May 1940
Hello, I don't have Fusilier Ardis on my Nominal Roll. Do you have som aditional information on him? Koen
